The use of a bovine bone mineral in periodontal osseous defects: case reports

This article reviews the clinical and radiographical results of 12 periodontal patients treated with a bovine bone graft, Bio-Oss. Thirty-two periodontal intrabony osseous defects of various sizes and morphology were surgically treated and evaluated at 6 months. The patients responded well to the use of the bovine bone mineral with good tissue response and an improvement of the intrabony defects. There was an overall mean probing pocket reduction in the deepest sites of 2.34 mm (S.D. +/- 1.59) and a mean gain in probing attachment levels of 1.84 mm (S.D. +/- 1.09). There was a difference in the sites treated with the bovine bone alone compared to sites treated with the bone mineral and barrier membranes, but these differences were not significant. These preliminary findings seem favorable for bovine bone mineral as an alternative graft material to allogenic bone grafts from human tissue banks in treating intrabony defects.